Humor

Tony Hawk vs. GameRankings

We've come a long way from the days when skateboarding games were relegated to a cartoon gorilla hopping over neon oil drums (ask your grandparents about T&C Surf Designs). A revolution occurred in 1999, when professional wood-slab-with-wheels rider Tony Hawk helped to reinvent the genre to great results.

10 years later, the Birdman's most recent videogame outing, "Ride" -- complete with its own plastic skateboard peripheral -- may have seemed like a great idea on paper, but general critical consensus from the gaming press at large suggests otherwise. We counted at least three in-office injuries from setting the game up, and that's just from opening the box -- nevermind the numerous twisted ankles that resulted once we actually played it. So what can gamers count on from the Hawkster these days? If the past is any indication, one hell of a downhill ride.